Geography

Spain occupies 85% of the Iberian Peninsula, which it shares with
Portugal, in southwest Europe. Africa is less than 10 mi (16 km) south at
the Strait of Gibraltar. A broad central plateau slopes to the south and
east, crossed by a series of mountain ranges and river valleys. Principal
rivers are the Ebro in the northeast, the Tajo in the central region, and
the Guadalquivir in the south. Off Spain's east coast in the Mediterranean
are the Balearic Islands (1,936 sq mi; 5,014 sq km), the largest of which
is Majorca. Sixty mi (97 km) west of Africa are the Canary Islands (2,808
sq mi; 7,273 sq km).

Government

Parliamentary monarchy.

History

Spain, originally inhabited by Celts, Iberians, and Basques, became a
part of the Roman Empire in 206
B.C.
, when it
was conquered by Scipio Africanus. In
A.D.
412,
the barbarian Visigothic leader Ataulf crossed the Pyrenees and ruled
Spain, first in the name of the Roman emperor and then independently. In
711, the Muslims under Tariq entered Spain from Africa and within a few
years completed the subjugation of the country. In 732, the Franks, led by
Charles Martel, defeated the Muslims near Poitiers, thus preventing the
further expansion of Islam in southern Europe. Internal dissension of
Spanish Islam invited a steady Christian conquest from the north.

Aragon and Castile were the most important Spanish states from the 12th
to the 15th century, consolidated by the marriage of Ferdinand II and
Isabella I in 1469. In 1478, they established the Inquisition, to root out
heresy and uncover Jews and Muslims who had not sincerely converted to
Christianity. Torquemada, the most notorious of the grand inquisitors,
epitomized the Inquisition's harshness and cruelty. The last Muslim
stronghold, Granada, was captured in 1492. Roman Catholicism was
established as the official state religion and most Jews (1492) and
Muslims (1502) were expelled. In the era of exploration, discovery, and
colonization, Spain amassed tremendous wealth and a vast colonial empire
through the conquest of Mexico by Cortés (1519–1521) and Peru
by Pizarro (1532–1533). The Spanish Hapsburg monarchy became for a
time the most powerful in the world. In 1588, Philip II sent his
invincible Armada to invade England, but its destruction cost Spain its
supremacy on the seas and paved the way for England's colonization of
America. Spain then sank rapidly to the status of a second-rate power
under the rule of weak Hapsburg kings, and it never again played a major
role in European politics. The War of the Spanish Succession
(1701–1714) resulted in Spain's loss of Belgium, Luxembourg, Milan,
Sardinia, and Naples. Its colonial empire in the Americas and the
Philippines vanished in wars and revolutions during the 18th and 19th
centuries.

In World War I, Spain maintained a position of neutrality. In 1923,
Gen. Miguel Primo de Rivera became dictator. In 1930, King Alfonso XIII
revoked the dictatorship, but a strong antimonarchist and republican
movement led to his leaving Spain in 1931. The new constitution declared
Spain a workers' republic, broke up the large estates, separated church
and state, and secularized the schools. The elections held in 1936
returned a strong Popular Front majority, with Manuel Azaña as
president.